Tag Archives: Sierra Leone

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The recent Ebola crisis has caused approximately 20.000 deaths so far. Compared to other global health crises, including the deaths caused by armed conflicts and chronic diseases, this is still a small amount. Yet, from a global and domestic health law and governance perspective, this crisis raises a number of vital questions and challenges, which were also addressed during a recent SHARESdebate organised by the University of Amsterdam. It reveals a lack of good governance and leadership at both domestic and international levels. It challenges us to ask the questions: what went wrong, who is responsible, and for what? (more…)

Senior UN officials warned that the virus is ‘far ahead’ of the global response as it is morphing from a local to an international crisis requiring all countries to scale up efforts and financial commitments to bring an end to the scourge. (more…)

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The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is illustrative of a global health issue which requires collective global action. The rapid spread of the virus is alarming health experts. At the time of writing, the number of reported deaths has reached more than 3,338, and the virus could spread even further across borders. States that are most affected are Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, but Ebola cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

President Obama urged world powers to accelerate the global response to the Ebola outbreak that is ravaging West Africa, warning that unless health care workers, medical equipment and treatment centers were swiftly deployed, the disease could take hundreds of thousands of lives. Mr. Obama said at a meeting with doctors who had just returned from West Africa that the world ‘has the responsibility to act, to step up and to do more. The United States intends to do more.’ He announced a major American deployment to Liberia and Senegal of medicine, equipment and 3,000 military personnel. (more…)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed to mobilise the UN in every possible way to respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and issued an ‘international rescue call’ for a massive surge in assistance, warning that ‘the world can no longer afford to short-change global public health’. (more…)